From time to time I debate with people who are somehow proud of their birth place. I always tell them that it was just luck or an accident that they were born in Basel, Zurich, Switzerland in general. Not much to do with them. Maybe their parents chose the place, so they could be praised (or blamed). First and last, you are one of the chosen few (aka a lucky bastard) if you were born in a country like Switzerland. Those debates came to my mind when I was reading a (not entirely new but still striking) research paper called Inequality at Birth: Some Causes and Consequences by Janet Currie. Currie is a professor for economics at Princeton University. She shows in her research that poor health in utero and in childhood reduces educational attainment, earnings potential, cognitive skill, and health in adulthood. You are already doomed before you even have started. Being proud of a place just makes no sense. You can be proud of your daughter if she wins a swimming contest or maybe if your son knows how to play the horn. Anything. Just leave me alone with your pride of places, cities, nations.